AN EQUITABLE DECISION, 406

they would do ravenous beasts, wherever they found them; and if
they fell into their hands alive, they should certainly be hanged.
However, this was far from cooling them; but away they went,
raging and swearing like furies of hell. As soon as they were
gone, came back the two men, in passion and rage enough also,
though of another kind ; for having been at their plantation, and
finding it all demolished and destroyed as above, it will easily be
supposed they had provocation enough. They could scarce have
room to tell their tale, the Spaniards were so eager to tell them
theirs; and it was strange enough to find three men thus bully
nineteen, and receive no punishment at all.

The Spaniards indeed despised them, and especially, having thus
disarmed them, made light of all their threatenings ; but the two
Knglishmen resolved to have their remedy against them, what pain
soever it cost to find them out.

3ut the Spaniards interposed here too, and told them that as
they had disarmed them they could not consent that they (the
two) shonld pursue them with firearms, and perhaps kill them ;
“ But,” said the grave Spaniard, who was their governor, “ we will
endeavour to make them do you justice if you will leave it to us ;
for as there is no doubt but they will come to us again when their
passion is over, being not able to subsist without our assistance, we
promise you to make no peace with them, without having a full
satisfaction for you. Upon this condition we hope you will promise
to use no violence with them, other than in your own defence.”

The two Englishmen yielded to this very awkwardly and with
great reluctance; but the Spaniards protested they did it only
to keep them from bloodshed, and to make all easy at last;
“Bor,” said they, “we are not so many of us; here is room enough
for us all, and it is great pity we should not be all good friends.”
At length they did consent, and waited for the issue of the thing,
living for some days with the Spaniards, for their own habitation
was destroyed.

In about five days’ time, the three vagrants, tired with wander-
ing, and almost starved with hunger, having chiefly lived on turtles’
eggs all that while, came back to the grove, and finding my
Spaniard, who, as T have said, was the governor, and two more